Ok ok ok, mom this can go to everybody cause i guess people will find out anyway right? haha so for those of you who dont know, this will be my last letter from russiafor a while... I have a piece from my meniscus just chillin in my knee so i have to come home and get surgery... so... ya. this is a crazy mission i know. Who would have thought? 2 surgeries in my mission.. wow... but yes, i am really really sad to be leaving russia right now. Its the perfect weather and i am starting to see miracles. I am just starting to get ahold of the language and i can finally kinda communicate.. man... the lord has a plan doenst he? No, really, from what i have learned from this is that the Lord totally has a plan, and i know that. And i hope that i can come back to russia but if i have to finish my mission somewhere else, i will.. so we will see! whatever the lord has in store for me... i will follow!
Anyway, i did see the greatest miracle this week....when I was here the first time, in Novosibirsk, we were teaching this lady and her name was Irina... and she had a daughter her name was dasha... and the mom was interested in the gospel and we taught her about 5 times and then we left to tomsk. And we asked her daughter if she wanted to listen and she said "no, i dont believe, if he does exsist he hasnt given me anything" and it was really really sad... but she was just kinda a crazy teenager. Well, then we met the guy who gave us Irinas number, and he said "her daughter wants to meet with you".. and i was like "what? no way".. but we called her and she was so willing to have us over.. so we went over and she was all the sudden 4 months prego, and we sat down and talked to her and she just went off...on things like " i know god lives, i can feel him i know theres something.... i want to know more, i want to come to church with you..." and sister and i just sat there and just stared.. and it was a completely different person... i couldnt believe it.. i want to say more but i can explain. We are just praying she comes with us on sunday cause shes amazing. I cant believe. I really beleive that we were sent there to Irina to meetdasha... It was so cool..
anyway.. this week has been pretty crazy. Just preparing to come home... sweird... but its ok... i am just trying to do what i can this week so i cacome home, figure out this surgery, and come back and finish the work here! i can honestly say i love russia, i love the pepole.... i love the work...its crazy that you dont realize how much you are going to miss it until you have to leave. and its even scary when you dont know if you can come back. But... i just know that this experience has been one in a million.. i have great pictures to show you guys!
anyway, the rest of the week was pretty normal.. a lot of people saying no...a lot of chasing buses.. and lot of eating weird food! we did go to the big swap meet and saw a TON of fur... it was so cool....and we are now at a 4th of july party with the missionaries.. sister and i are in blue and white striped shirts and red skirts... the thing is is its not so much american pride because russian colors are red white and blue too...
anyway... random letter i am excited to see you guys... mom you got my
flight plans... so i guess i will see you monday night!
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
no....I didnt see another naked man
Hello!!!!
> so another week has gone by! i am sorry i can respond to everybodies emails
> but just know I love you all soooo much!!
> first of all... brookie jackson and amy! thanks for the letters, i love you
> both.. and the pictures of ashtons wedding were amazing! ASHTON YOU ARE
> GORGEOUS!
> i love you guys!!!
ok... first off.. a little about my companion.. her name is sister clark andshe is from washington.. she studied at BYU and i have to say.. i amcompanions with amy/aly giles... its sooo great! there are sometimes whenshe says something and i just look at her because its exactly what amy would say.. so amy... know you are with me right now and i love it! we have a lotof fun.. and its great because we contact a ton.. and of course nobodyreally likes to talk to us, and they are slightly rude.. but we always make some dumb missionary joke after and say things like "fine, I dont think wanted to give you salvation anyway..." haha so lame i know, and definetlnot what christ would do, but you gotta make it fun sometimes. .and truly..it does break my heart when people just completely disreguard us or theycall us a colt.. or something like that, because i know they are so far off,and i know that they are all daughters and sons of our heavenly father...but we gotta make it happy too.. hahaanyway, she is so great and we have a ton of fun...ok to tell a little ab out my week...after i wrote you we went shopping, and mom, i am pretty sure it was at that mall you looked up before... its like legit.. reminds me of america... hah and they actually had a ton of sales. i was able to buy some t shirts and not just t shirts, cute shirts for like 7 bucks... so it worked out great...
oh! and it was sisters birthday so we ate at ikea and KFC... hahah yum! Then after we met with the lady nina, and she has the biggest dog and scary dog i have ever seen, just a side note.. anyway, we met with her and she lives in a house and she has a garden so for sisters birthday we picked strawberries! it was so cool! then on thursday... get this.. WE SET A BAPTISMAL DATE!!!!! with tanya.. shes a young girls with the mom olga... she really wants to be baptized we just have to teach her... so that was a way good day for us... then i honestly cant remember what happened friday.... hahah then saturday we met with babavalia in the toilet again.. this time it was incredibly stinky... i wanted to puke the whole time.. probably because it was saturday and she works by this park thing where there are always tons of people.. because there are fountaints.. and get this... people like swim in the fountains... siberia is strange i know.. anyway... people always have wedding picctures there and stuff.. oH! and when we were there, the bride totally went to the bathroom in her toilet.. ahaahaha it was like 27dresses... it was classic... then after we met with tanya again and taught her about sabbath day, we have a feeling that going to church will be her biggest problem... and then sunday... lo and behold... she didnt come to church.. so thats going to be hard with her but we are hoping that she can make it to church and make her baptismal date...which is the end of july... then monday... so my knee has been hurting and so sister trejo called me and told me the doctor would be calling..so he called and he said its either 2 things... the swelling which would mean that we can just take the fluid out again.. oooorr i tore it which would mean surgery.. and he said that i just need to get an MRI to find out...so yes.. we found an MRI and it was actually a way nice place.. and i got one monday.. and it was hysterical.. at one point i moved during it and in russian english the lady goes over the intercom and says "dont move" hahaha i was dying.... anyway... that went ok... mom i will have to tell you the results in a different email :) hahaha... ya i have an interesting life i know...anwyay... then sister left to finland on tuesday so i have just been with the senior couple the huffakers and have been off my knee... we dont rreally have a busy day i am just kinda relaxing for this p day...
anyway...i hope this week is great! i love you guys and i love eerything you do for me! know that the mission is going! hahah i know we dont see a lot of success but i like to think that maybe i wont see it for a while...as long as i am doing what the lord asks thats all i can do...and he knows all and if i am doing what he asks i can work as his hands... i love this church and my mission! and i love russia! i love the people and these experiences... i love you guys!
>
> so another week has gone by! i am sorry i can respond to everybodies emails
> but just know I love you all soooo much!!
> first of all... brookie jackson and amy! thanks for the letters, i love you
> both.. and the pictures of ashtons wedding were amazing! ASHTON YOU ARE
> GORGEOUS!
> i love you guys!!!
ok... first off.. a little about my companion.. her name is sister clark andshe is from washington.. she studied at BYU and i have to say.. i amcompanions with amy/aly giles... its sooo great! there are sometimes whenshe says something and i just look at her because its exactly what amy would say.. so amy... know you are with me right now and i love it! we have a lotof fun.. and its great because we contact a ton.. and of course nobodyreally likes to talk to us, and they are slightly rude.. but we always make some dumb missionary joke after and say things like "fine, I dont think wanted to give you salvation anyway..." haha so lame i know, and definetlnot what christ would do, but you gotta make it fun sometimes. .and truly..it does break my heart when people just completely disreguard us or theycall us a colt.. or something like that, because i know they are so far off,and i know that they are all daughters and sons of our heavenly father...but we gotta make it happy too.. hahaanyway, she is so great and we have a ton of fun...ok to tell a little ab out my week...after i wrote you we went shopping, and mom, i am pretty sure it was at that mall you looked up before... its like legit.. reminds me of america... hah and they actually had a ton of sales. i was able to buy some t shirts and not just t shirts, cute shirts for like 7 bucks... so it worked out great...
oh! and it was sisters birthday so we ate at ikea and KFC... hahah yum! Then after we met with the lady nina, and she has the biggest dog and scary dog i have ever seen, just a side note.. anyway, we met with her and she lives in a house and she has a garden so for sisters birthday we picked strawberries! it was so cool! then on thursday... get this.. WE SET A BAPTISMAL DATE!!!!! with tanya.. shes a young girls with the mom olga... she really wants to be baptized we just have to teach her... so that was a way good day for us... then i honestly cant remember what happened friday.... hahah then saturday we met with babavalia in the toilet again.. this time it was incredibly stinky... i wanted to puke the whole time.. probably because it was saturday and she works by this park thing where there are always tons of people.. because there are fountaints.. and get this... people like swim in the fountains... siberia is strange i know.. anyway... people always have wedding picctures there and stuff.. oH! and when we were there, the bride totally went to the bathroom in her toilet.. ahaahaha it was like 27dresses... it was classic... then after we met with tanya again and taught her about sabbath day, we have a feeling that going to church will be her biggest problem... and then sunday... lo and behold... she didnt come to church.. so thats going to be hard with her but we are hoping that she can make it to church and make her baptismal date...which is the end of july... then monday... so my knee has been hurting and so sister trejo called me and told me the doctor would be calling..so he called and he said its either 2 things... the swelling which would mean that we can just take the fluid out again.. oooorr i tore it which would mean surgery.. and he said that i just need to get an MRI to find out...so yes.. we found an MRI and it was actually a way nice place.. and i got one monday.. and it was hysterical.. at one point i moved during it and in russian english the lady goes over the intercom and says "dont move" hahaha i was dying.... anyway... that went ok... mom i will have to tell you the results in a different email :) hahaha... ya i have an interesting life i know...anwyay... then sister left to finland on tuesday so i have just been with the senior couple the huffakers and have been off my knee... we dont rreally have a busy day i am just kinda relaxing for this p day...
anyway...i hope this week is great! i love you guys and i love eerything you do for me! know that the mission is going! hahah i know we dont see a lot of success but i like to think that maybe i wont see it for a while...as long as i am doing what the lord asks thats all i can do...and he knows all and if i am doing what he asks i can work as his hands... i love this church and my mission! and i love russia! i love the people and these experiences... i love you guys!
>
Yes, we have a fat naked man
ok! family and friends hello! i know the title of my email sounds crazy.. well thats probably because it is.. hahaha i want to start off with my crazy week here in siberia! First of all.. i am here in novosibirsk again and yes i am in the same place i was before, same apartment and all! left bank so i love it... and secondly.. president peterson who was supposed to come after president trejo will no longer be our president... something happened and he isnt allowed to come to russia so we will have a president for a month while they
are training a new president i dont know his name but all i know is he was called to go to new mexico and no he is coming to siberia... quite the change i know! haha so thats different for us.. it should be good though
well to start off my week... wednesday we were just contacting all day and funny story.. sister told someone in russian we had an "animal prophet" instead of a "living prophet" so that was hysterical.. the lady just kinda
looked at us crazy... hahaha its fun learning a new language right? haha Then on tursday we met with this lady valentina and she has the fasted pet turtle i have ever seen... and its just roams around her apartment its
pretty hysterical.. we weer teaching her and we like heard the turtle speeding down the hall.. so random... then our next meeting was with this lady galina.. and she is just like brutally honest with us... she tells us we cant speak the langauge at all and then she told me that my hair doesnt tell people that i am a hairdresser... haha shes a hoot.. but she ended up loving us when we left so we will see. she just aways tells us we are
horrible but loves having us over its hysterical...Then! on friday, we met with this lady babavalia... and we met with her at her work.. and guess where she works... and public toilet (because you usually have to pay to use the bathrooms) so she takes money.. so ya.. we met in a toilet... hahaha it was hysterical.... then the good part of our week... we have these investigators a mom and a daughter named olga and tanya and they are so great! they told us they would for sure be baptized when they knew it was true... which is a huge step and
they always do what we want! its amazing! they are such amazing investigators the mom just works a ton so its hard to meet but we are trying!!!! then the rest of the week was just crazy... let me tell you... russia people
are nuts.. i love them dearly... but i cant describe the things i see here... you just have to be here... hahaha
other than that we just meet with inactives and members and contact... we have done a ton of contacting this week and have had very little success... most of the time people ignore us or just say "net"... sometimes we orrr.. they say "not allowed" and we just always say "yes.. its allowed ahah its funny cause sister clark and i just laugh at it... its ok though, yes its hard.. but we just keep our heads up and know that as long as we do what the lord wants then we will be blessed...
well.. let me tell you about russia in the summer real quick... first of all, all i can say is they have NO SHAME! women walk around basically naked... and wait, men too.. haha men always walk around in itty bitty shorts and thats all... and i have seen so many men just change clothes... its so strange... haha new culture i guess.. .oH! and funniest thing ever... this little fat girl like ran by one of the trees and just started peeing in front of everyone and the mom just stood and watched her.. ha it was so funny....
THEN! this morning... sister and i were studying and we were in the kitchen and we live on a main street and across the street are other apartments too.. and the window looks out to them, and then out of nowhere, a fat naked man just walks outside and starts enjoying the summer breeze.. haha i just stopped and said "sister... they is a fat naked man outside our window luckily i couldnt make out anything specific on his body) but he was definetly naked... we both just lost it.... it was just like "yep... we live here" hahaha i totally thought about friends....it was so great...
anyway... that was basically my week... the miracle we saw this week was that one day our planning day, was really hard, so we decided to go buy lunch even though we didnt have any money.. but we decided to anyway causewe needed to get out.. and we just kept walking when nothing souded good...and then we came to this place which kinda sells wraps.. i dont know how to write it in english, and there was one of the elders investigators, anton...and he worked there i guess, and he speaks english and said "these will be
free for you today!"and we said "no no... we can pay.." and he said "no no!"and then we just talked with him about the church and stuff and for us...obviously it was a blessing and we realized that the lord is always aware of us... always... he knew we needed to get out of the house and he gave us the opportunity to talk to an investigator and have free lunch... and for us it was an amazing experience that the lord blesses us when we need it.. We have been working really hard this week... and we know when we do the
blessings come...i am sorry that this email is random, i just dont have much time today, its
my companions birthday so we have a lot planned and i have to go cut someones hair!! but know i love my mission.. russia is crazy! but i love it... and i am learning more about myself every day....
i love you guys!! miss you!!!!!
ps.. telicia your baby is adorable i am sending you a letter
ash! i got your letter i will write you soon!
ali! i need your address in san fran!!!!!
I LOVE YU GUYS!
are training a new president i dont know his name but all i know is he was called to go to new mexico and no he is coming to siberia... quite the change i know! haha so thats different for us.. it should be good though
well to start off my week... wednesday we were just contacting all day and funny story.. sister told someone in russian we had an "animal prophet" instead of a "living prophet" so that was hysterical.. the lady just kinda
looked at us crazy... hahaha its fun learning a new language right? haha Then on tursday we met with this lady valentina and she has the fasted pet turtle i have ever seen... and its just roams around her apartment its
pretty hysterical.. we weer teaching her and we like heard the turtle speeding down the hall.. so random... then our next meeting was with this lady galina.. and she is just like brutally honest with us... she tells us we cant speak the langauge at all and then she told me that my hair doesnt tell people that i am a hairdresser... haha shes a hoot.. but she ended up loving us when we left so we will see. she just aways tells us we are
horrible but loves having us over its hysterical...Then! on friday, we met with this lady babavalia... and we met with her at her work.. and guess where she works... and public toilet (because you usually have to pay to use the bathrooms) so she takes money.. so ya.. we met in a toilet... hahaha it was hysterical.... then the good part of our week... we have these investigators a mom and a daughter named olga and tanya and they are so great! they told us they would for sure be baptized when they knew it was true... which is a huge step and
they always do what we want! its amazing! they are such amazing investigators the mom just works a ton so its hard to meet but we are trying!!!! then the rest of the week was just crazy... let me tell you... russia people
are nuts.. i love them dearly... but i cant describe the things i see here... you just have to be here... hahaha
other than that we just meet with inactives and members and contact... we have done a ton of contacting this week and have had very little success... most of the time people ignore us or just say "net"... sometimes we orrr.. they say "not allowed" and we just always say "yes.. its allowed ahah its funny cause sister clark and i just laugh at it... its ok though, yes its hard.. but we just keep our heads up and know that as long as we do what the lord wants then we will be blessed...
well.. let me tell you about russia in the summer real quick... first of all, all i can say is they have NO SHAME! women walk around basically naked... and wait, men too.. haha men always walk around in itty bitty shorts and thats all... and i have seen so many men just change clothes... its so strange... haha new culture i guess.. .oH! and funniest thing ever... this little fat girl like ran by one of the trees and just started peeing in front of everyone and the mom just stood and watched her.. ha it was so funny....
THEN! this morning... sister and i were studying and we were in the kitchen and we live on a main street and across the street are other apartments too.. and the window looks out to them, and then out of nowhere, a fat naked man just walks outside and starts enjoying the summer breeze.. haha i just stopped and said "sister... they is a fat naked man outside our window luckily i couldnt make out anything specific on his body) but he was definetly naked... we both just lost it.... it was just like "yep... we live here" hahaha i totally thought about friends....it was so great...
anyway... that was basically my week... the miracle we saw this week was that one day our planning day, was really hard, so we decided to go buy lunch even though we didnt have any money.. but we decided to anyway causewe needed to get out.. and we just kept walking when nothing souded good...and then we came to this place which kinda sells wraps.. i dont know how to write it in english, and there was one of the elders investigators, anton...and he worked there i guess, and he speaks english and said "these will be
free for you today!"and we said "no no... we can pay.." and he said "no no!"and then we just talked with him about the church and stuff and for us...obviously it was a blessing and we realized that the lord is always aware of us... always... he knew we needed to get out of the house and he gave us the opportunity to talk to an investigator and have free lunch... and for us it was an amazing experience that the lord blesses us when we need it.. We have been working really hard this week... and we know when we do the
blessings come...i am sorry that this email is random, i just dont have much time today, its
my companions birthday so we have a lot planned and i have to go cut someones hair!! but know i love my mission.. russia is crazy! but i love it... and i am learning more about myself every day....
i love you guys!! miss you!!!!!
ps.. telicia your baby is adorable i am sending you a letter
ash! i got your letter i will write you soon!
ali! i need your address in san fran!!!!!
I LOVE YU GUYS!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
CRAZY WEEK
hello family! everything sounds like it is going well!!! i am excited that you got the package! i know i didnt send pictures but its ok... not much is really happened here! i will try to send one more but its kinda hard from here... Well i didnt end up getting a letter from jess but thats ok... i am just glad that she got to be there with you guys and that you all have had fun! its always great when the family can get together and that i was there via russian dolls right? haha i am glad that it worked out...
well i cant really write that much this week but a lot has happened... we had a good week in tomsk and we had great zone conference with presidentthere and it was his last conference with us there and it went really well..we did the cutting of the tie.. i guess that in our mission whenever a missionary goes home the mission president cuts the tie... and now that hes leaving he got to cut a tie off of each of us so he has a tie from each missionary he served with which was awesome....anyway., other than that the work was going great in tomsk! i love the branch and i love the people... but then on monday i got emergency transfered to novosibirsk to the same area i was in when i first came on my mission... so ya.. sunday we decided and then monday i was on a bus by myself traveling 5 hours to novo... it was so funny cause i was thinking the whole time.. "ok.. i am in the middle of sibearia... by myself... on a bus.. i have no phone, i dont really know russian.. i am CRAZY!" haha but it all turned out ok.. i am on left bank right now and my companion is sister clark,,., she is a transfer older than me and we were in the mtc together... its only been two days but its been really fun so far... this should be a great next 7 weeks I think... and i am closer to a senior couple and doctor if i need one... so its going to be great i think.. i feel really good about the early transfer...other than that.. i dont really have any crazy stories except that a drunk man on a bus told me that in 1920 that the workers in siberia rose up against the smart people and killed a ton of them... and then told me that i was one of those smart people and that i should go back to where i camefrom.. hahahahaha honestly.. its kinda scary if you REALLY think about it but not really because he was drunk and nothing would ever really happen.. but i just laughed cause i was like "yes! he thinks i am smart!" haha Then the conductor lady on the bus i was sitting next to her and she kinda yelled at the guy and then started talking to me to try and comfort me... she said she really appreciated that i liked russia and that i would be here.. so it turned out really good...
SO ya.. we are just getting started here with the work in novo.. i am excited to be back and people remember me so its been really fun.. its been a good couple of days even though i miss sister vasilevskaya and tomsk so much.. but i guess this is the lords plan and we have to follow it right?well family.. i am sorry i dont have much time!! i love you all and is seriously am so grateful for your support and ;ove.. i miss you so much and i feel like you guys are progressing like i am here on my mission... we are on the earth the become even as christ and i know that its a day to day basis... maybe read in ether this week about the brother of jared and the jaredites and them building barges.. ive gotten a lot out of that story lately and especially chapter 6 on how the lord blew the winds so strongly that they at times were ecompassed by water... but he never ceased to blow toward the promised land.. and even though sometimes we feel as if we are encompassed by waters... we know that its the lord refining us.. and blowing us back to him.. its only through our trials that we can return to our father in heaven...i know that he gives us trials to make us grow... i know that with all my heart...i know that this gospel is true and has given me so much strength here on my mission... i know that i am called of god through a prophet of god to be here in russia right now.. i love my misson and i wouldnt trade it for anything
i love you guys! keep up all the good things you are doing. you are all great examples for me and i love how i can see through your letters that you are growing and that life is good no matter what happens...
rach tell evan i am sorry and i will pray for him... that must be hard but at least we have the plan of salvation right? jess.. thanks for much for bringing the package! i really appreciate it!! Mom dad grandma.. thanks for your supporting letters.. i love you all!
TELICIA!!!!!YOUR BABY IS ADORABLE!!!!! I CANT EVEN BELIEVE IT! whats his name? how big is he? when exactly did you have him?!?!? ahhhh i am so happy for you! i love you and i know you will be such a graet mom... you are amazing! congrats to you and matt both!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!
well i cant really write that much this week but a lot has happened... we had a good week in tomsk and we had great zone conference with presidentthere and it was his last conference with us there and it went really well..we did the cutting of the tie.. i guess that in our mission whenever a missionary goes home the mission president cuts the tie... and now that hes leaving he got to cut a tie off of each of us so he has a tie from each missionary he served with which was awesome....anyway., other than that the work was going great in tomsk! i love the branch and i love the people... but then on monday i got emergency transfered to novosibirsk to the same area i was in when i first came on my mission... so ya.. sunday we decided and then monday i was on a bus by myself traveling 5 hours to novo... it was so funny cause i was thinking the whole time.. "ok.. i am in the middle of sibearia... by myself... on a bus.. i have no phone, i dont really know russian.. i am CRAZY!" haha but it all turned out ok.. i am on left bank right now and my companion is sister clark,,., she is a transfer older than me and we were in the mtc together... its only been two days but its been really fun so far... this should be a great next 7 weeks I think... and i am closer to a senior couple and doctor if i need one... so its going to be great i think.. i feel really good about the early transfer...other than that.. i dont really have any crazy stories except that a drunk man on a bus told me that in 1920 that the workers in siberia rose up against the smart people and killed a ton of them... and then told me that i was one of those smart people and that i should go back to where i camefrom.. hahahahaha honestly.. its kinda scary if you REALLY think about it but not really because he was drunk and nothing would ever really happen.. but i just laughed cause i was like "yes! he thinks i am smart!" haha Then the conductor lady on the bus i was sitting next to her and she kinda yelled at the guy and then started talking to me to try and comfort me... she said she really appreciated that i liked russia and that i would be here.. so it turned out really good...
SO ya.. we are just getting started here with the work in novo.. i am excited to be back and people remember me so its been really fun.. its been a good couple of days even though i miss sister vasilevskaya and tomsk so much.. but i guess this is the lords plan and we have to follow it right?well family.. i am sorry i dont have much time!! i love you all and is seriously am so grateful for your support and ;ove.. i miss you so much and i feel like you guys are progressing like i am here on my mission... we are on the earth the become even as christ and i know that its a day to day basis... maybe read in ether this week about the brother of jared and the jaredites and them building barges.. ive gotten a lot out of that story lately and especially chapter 6 on how the lord blew the winds so strongly that they at times were ecompassed by water... but he never ceased to blow toward the promised land.. and even though sometimes we feel as if we are encompassed by waters... we know that its the lord refining us.. and blowing us back to him.. its only through our trials that we can return to our father in heaven...i know that he gives us trials to make us grow... i know that with all my heart...i know that this gospel is true and has given me so much strength here on my mission... i know that i am called of god through a prophet of god to be here in russia right now.. i love my misson and i wouldnt trade it for anything
i love you guys! keep up all the good things you are doing. you are all great examples for me and i love how i can see through your letters that you are growing and that life is good no matter what happens...
rach tell evan i am sorry and i will pray for him... that must be hard but at least we have the plan of salvation right? jess.. thanks for much for bringing the package! i really appreciate it!! Mom dad grandma.. thanks for your supporting letters.. i love you all!
TELICIA!!!!!YOUR BABY IS ADORABLE!!!!! I CANT EVEN BELIEVE IT! whats his name? how big is he? when exactly did you have him?!?!? ahhhh i am so happy for you! i love you and i know you will be such a graet mom... you are amazing! congrats to you and matt both!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!
Summer is here in Russia
hello family!
thanks for your letters! it sounds like grandmas birthday party went really well! good job to all!! i am glad it turned out! Grandma, thanks for your letter! i dont know exactly when your birthday is, i want to say the 5th of june but i am not sure so HAPPY BIRTHDAY! i am glad that it went well! also i am glad that there was conference this week and you guys enjoyed it... its always good to hear from someone the lord has called to look after us! thanks for always writing me grandma, i love you! tell grandpa i love him too! also tell tami and jeff to have fun! they have always wanted to do that! i am excited they get to do the alaskan cruise! that should be fun!Mom, thanks for the money, i hopefully can go get some shoes... also tell gracie i sent the package with the alands, they ended up going home this week so they are in colorado and i had them send it to jess because there was stuff for my friends too, i figured that was easiest and then jess can send you guys the package... just and fyi, theres something in there for everyone.. the letter to jess explains it but if she has any questions shecan ask me!
Dad! it seems like you guys will be swimming a ton this summer.. man i wish i could swim here, its soo hot! its like 90 now.. but its humid.. and from arizona i dont know humid.. haha so its been crazy! i love you dad! Rachel. i am excited that you have your own house! the pictures seem great! i am excited to see it when i get home! keep up the good work! keep being a good mom and working hard, nothing good comes without work right? haha love you sis Jess! thanks for the letter too! it seems like you have 4 crazy boys! neil has teeth!! what!?!? oh my gosh i cant believe that... i havent even seen him! haha.. well it seems like you are pretty busy too! thanks for your letter... it helps to get encouraging letters from your sister... you and rachel both. you guys are great examples! thanks for all you do i love you! tell the boys i love them too! and like i said to mom, i sent (sister aland will send) you a package with little dolls, theres some for my friends in utah and then some to go to az.. the letter should explain it all.. if youhave questions ask me! thanks jess i know i am a pain i just didnt know how else to do it! haha love you! OK! on with my week... well it was funny cause wednesday night i got a phone call from elder aland and he said "sister west did your mom write you?" andi said "no.." and he said "well she sent us an email so you can check it tomorrow here!" haah so funny.. so i ended up checking my email thursday so thanks mom! its always good to hear from you... hah then the next day sister aland called me (and long story short they have a granddaughter in the hospital right now she was norn only a pound and is really struggling) anyway.. they called me and they told me they were going to go home for a little bit! i was really sad but i am glad that they get to go home and take care of their family.. they had been really worried about their grandaughter and daughter and they needed to be there to help.. its great cause now they arent constantly stressing... then on friday we had planned a girls pajama party for the branch and our investigators and we made crepes and watched tangled and we made bracelets! and guess what! we had 6 non members there! it was so amazing.. a miracle for sure... honestly... it turned out really great.. we have 15 people there all together which was a really good turn out.. so it was awesome... and everyone had fun! then on saturday we helped the alands move and we went home after cause of my knee, i needed to stay off of it for a while...then sunday... we said good bye to the alands! it was really sad to say goodbye, even though i am really glad they get to go help! then monday.. was a crazy day,. i think i told you about the kids camp we went and cleaned out out in the villages.. well we recieved a fund to help them buy sports equipment so sister and i went and bought about 400 dollars worth of sports stuff (balls and stuff) so we could deliver it to the camp,then we went to prepare dinner because we were having a big FHE with the Lee family because they are leaving for the summer,... so i prepared rolls and taco soup! and then the whole lee family came, with all the missionaries we had about 16 people there i think! so we ate dinner then we did a competition with them where they had to listen and draw the first vision.. and then we talked about answers to your prayers.. overall, it was an amazing night, the family (mom and dad) told us how muuch they appreciated us and how much of an example we were for their children! it was so great but now we just have to work on them building a testimony! they know its true i know they do.. we think the biggest challenge for them is their daughters are gymnasts.. (acrobats so weird i know they should be gymnasts) and they compete on sundays.. so hopefully we can get them over that! we will see.. they leave in a few days so hopefully when they come back...then that night we met two girls about our age on the street, and lo and behold! they were jehovas witnesses.. it was so funny.. it was like 4 young girls, all preaching their gospel.. and i never like talking with them becaue they know exactly who we are and they always try to prove us wrong with the bible.. and they asked about the book of mormom (and they were nice but in a sneaky way haha) and they read that same scripture from revelations where it says something about not adding to the bible which.. thats just how they interpret it.. anyway.. i was tired and i simply said "you girls are believing right? you believe you can recieve answers to your prayers right?" and they said "yes" and i said.. "but only if we do something and then ask god right" and they said yes... and i pulled out a random book and said "if you didnt read this book, how would you know what was in it? and if you read it and did pray about it, how could god answer you and tell you if it was true?" and they said "i dont know?" and i said "exactly.. so how can you say that the book of mormon isnt true unless you have read it and asked god? you cant! i know you can.... because right now, just looking at a book of mormon, its simply a book, but i know and i know because i have done it..that if you read and pray about the book of mormom that god will tell you its true... and you cant say that its not because you havent read it... "i said it nicer than it seems... but anyway.. they just said "its great to meet people who believe too" hahah and then we said good bye... it was funnyand sister was like "sister west where did that come from!?" and it mightnot have been the best thing... but i needed them to know that this is whatwe beileve and we wont stray from it..and they only way they can find out is to read it.. its simple..
anyway.. that was a crazy day! then yesterday, we went to that camp and delivered the sports equipment and then cleaned a ton! the kids come this saturday.. then on the way home, we were on a bus, and we stood up and we heard this man talking to some kids, and they didnt understand them, and sister was like "he isnt from russia.."then he looked at us and was like "do you speak english?" haha and i was like.. yes i do! and he was like "do you speak it well?" and i said.. yes...i am america... haha and he looked at me.. and he was from france so he didnt speak it that well but we could communicate.. anyway long story short we ended up helping him find his hotel and he was just on a tour of russia by himself.. he has been taking a train from moscow and seeing a ton of cities and will end up in the other side of the country... haha so random..but we got to share about why were are here as missionaries and everything... and hopefully, we made an impression and he will then try to find the church in france! we told him to look haha...
other than that.. just the normal.. meeting with people every day, stregthening the branch.. meeting with new people, teaching english.. trying to be the missionaries the lord wants... its hard but it is a great experience and i will never forget these moments i have had.. and i hope that i can do my best to work as the lords hands... so that i can be doing the things i need to be doing here... and even if i dont realize it.. i hope i am strengthing others...i love you guys! and i expect letters next week! i am sorry i dont have much time to write!!
love you and i look forward from hearing from you! love youuuu!
love sister west!
thanks for your letters! it sounds like grandmas birthday party went really well! good job to all!! i am glad it turned out! Grandma, thanks for your letter! i dont know exactly when your birthday is, i want to say the 5th of june but i am not sure so HAPPY BIRTHDAY! i am glad that it went well! also i am glad that there was conference this week and you guys enjoyed it... its always good to hear from someone the lord has called to look after us! thanks for always writing me grandma, i love you! tell grandpa i love him too! also tell tami and jeff to have fun! they have always wanted to do that! i am excited they get to do the alaskan cruise! that should be fun!Mom, thanks for the money, i hopefully can go get some shoes... also tell gracie i sent the package with the alands, they ended up going home this week so they are in colorado and i had them send it to jess because there was stuff for my friends too, i figured that was easiest and then jess can send you guys the package... just and fyi, theres something in there for everyone.. the letter to jess explains it but if she has any questions shecan ask me!
Dad! it seems like you guys will be swimming a ton this summer.. man i wish i could swim here, its soo hot! its like 90 now.. but its humid.. and from arizona i dont know humid.. haha so its been crazy! i love you dad! Rachel. i am excited that you have your own house! the pictures seem great! i am excited to see it when i get home! keep up the good work! keep being a good mom and working hard, nothing good comes without work right? haha love you sis Jess! thanks for the letter too! it seems like you have 4 crazy boys! neil has teeth!! what!?!? oh my gosh i cant believe that... i havent even seen him! haha.. well it seems like you are pretty busy too! thanks for your letter... it helps to get encouraging letters from your sister... you and rachel both. you guys are great examples! thanks for all you do i love you! tell the boys i love them too! and like i said to mom, i sent (sister aland will send) you a package with little dolls, theres some for my friends in utah and then some to go to az.. the letter should explain it all.. if youhave questions ask me! thanks jess i know i am a pain i just didnt know how else to do it! haha love you! OK! on with my week... well it was funny cause wednesday night i got a phone call from elder aland and he said "sister west did your mom write you?" andi said "no.." and he said "well she sent us an email so you can check it tomorrow here!" haah so funny.. so i ended up checking my email thursday so thanks mom! its always good to hear from you... hah then the next day sister aland called me (and long story short they have a granddaughter in the hospital right now she was norn only a pound and is really struggling) anyway.. they called me and they told me they were going to go home for a little bit! i was really sad but i am glad that they get to go home and take care of their family.. they had been really worried about their grandaughter and daughter and they needed to be there to help.. its great cause now they arent constantly stressing... then on friday we had planned a girls pajama party for the branch and our investigators and we made crepes and watched tangled and we made bracelets! and guess what! we had 6 non members there! it was so amazing.. a miracle for sure... honestly... it turned out really great.. we have 15 people there all together which was a really good turn out.. so it was awesome... and everyone had fun! then on saturday we helped the alands move and we went home after cause of my knee, i needed to stay off of it for a while...then sunday... we said good bye to the alands! it was really sad to say goodbye, even though i am really glad they get to go help! then monday.. was a crazy day,. i think i told you about the kids camp we went and cleaned out out in the villages.. well we recieved a fund to help them buy sports equipment so sister and i went and bought about 400 dollars worth of sports stuff (balls and stuff) so we could deliver it to the camp,then we went to prepare dinner because we were having a big FHE with the Lee family because they are leaving for the summer,... so i prepared rolls and taco soup! and then the whole lee family came, with all the missionaries we had about 16 people there i think! so we ate dinner then we did a competition with them where they had to listen and draw the first vision.. and then we talked about answers to your prayers.. overall, it was an amazing night, the family (mom and dad) told us how muuch they appreciated us and how much of an example we were for their children! it was so great but now we just have to work on them building a testimony! they know its true i know they do.. we think the biggest challenge for them is their daughters are gymnasts.. (acrobats so weird i know they should be gymnasts) and they compete on sundays.. so hopefully we can get them over that! we will see.. they leave in a few days so hopefully when they come back...then that night we met two girls about our age on the street, and lo and behold! they were jehovas witnesses.. it was so funny.. it was like 4 young girls, all preaching their gospel.. and i never like talking with them becaue they know exactly who we are and they always try to prove us wrong with the bible.. and they asked about the book of mormom (and they were nice but in a sneaky way haha) and they read that same scripture from revelations where it says something about not adding to the bible which.. thats just how they interpret it.. anyway.. i was tired and i simply said "you girls are believing right? you believe you can recieve answers to your prayers right?" and they said "yes" and i said.. "but only if we do something and then ask god right" and they said yes... and i pulled out a random book and said "if you didnt read this book, how would you know what was in it? and if you read it and did pray about it, how could god answer you and tell you if it was true?" and they said "i dont know?" and i said "exactly.. so how can you say that the book of mormon isnt true unless you have read it and asked god? you cant! i know you can.... because right now, just looking at a book of mormon, its simply a book, but i know and i know because i have done it..that if you read and pray about the book of mormom that god will tell you its true... and you cant say that its not because you havent read it... "i said it nicer than it seems... but anyway.. they just said "its great to meet people who believe too" hahah and then we said good bye... it was funnyand sister was like "sister west where did that come from!?" and it mightnot have been the best thing... but i needed them to know that this is whatwe beileve and we wont stray from it..and they only way they can find out is to read it.. its simple..
anyway.. that was a crazy day! then yesterday, we went to that camp and delivered the sports equipment and then cleaned a ton! the kids come this saturday.. then on the way home, we were on a bus, and we stood up and we heard this man talking to some kids, and they didnt understand them, and sister was like "he isnt from russia.."then he looked at us and was like "do you speak english?" haha and i was like.. yes i do! and he was like "do you speak it well?" and i said.. yes...i am america... haha and he looked at me.. and he was from france so he didnt speak it that well but we could communicate.. anyway long story short we ended up helping him find his hotel and he was just on a tour of russia by himself.. he has been taking a train from moscow and seeing a ton of cities and will end up in the other side of the country... haha so random..but we got to share about why were are here as missionaries and everything... and hopefully, we made an impression and he will then try to find the church in france! we told him to look haha...
other than that.. just the normal.. meeting with people every day, stregthening the branch.. meeting with new people, teaching english.. trying to be the missionaries the lord wants... its hard but it is a great experience and i will never forget these moments i have had.. and i hope that i can do my best to work as the lords hands... so that i can be doing the things i need to be doing here... and even if i dont realize it.. i hope i am strengthing others...i love you guys! and i expect letters next week! i am sorry i dont have much time to write!!
love you and i look forward from hearing from you! love youuuu!
love sister west!
Friday, June 3, 2011
Another week...
FAMILY!!! hello!!!!!
it seems like everything is going well with you guys! i was glad to hear from.. well dad and grandma! haha its sad when you get so excited about emails and your mom doesnt even write you! haha its ok... next week right?
well.. dad first- it seems like a good week having gracie and gainer there.. tell katie i am sorry about the accident but she is in a great car right now! hah and the new bishopric? wow... that sounds like a good one though.. all three men are pretty great i would say! and about don... i wish that i could talk to zach and knock some sense into him.. he needs to realize that the mission isnt meant to be a walk in the park.. and if he thinks that every missionary who has served hasnt thought about going home is wrong... i can guarantee that EVERY missionary has wanted to go home and EVERY missionary has seriously thought about it... and we have to remember that its the lord who called us on a mission...i know that those times when i have had a hard time... i always think that the lord didnt send me on a mission to come home.. i have to realize that there are people here, for the next (now year)... who need me.. and heavenly father knows and knew that.. and he send me here, this specific place, this specific time.. for a reason.. and whenever i think about coming home, i realize how selfish it is because i would be missin out on those people who need me... anything.. thats my two cents about it.. i am truly sorry that he is coming home, but i can honestlty say i know EXACTLY what hes going through... i really do.. the misison is tough... especially in a different country and when you have given up so much, but in the end, we have to realize that when we give up this stuff for the lord, the lord will blessyou so much more... i dont know... tell him i am sorry and i wish him the best... and tell don i wil be praying for him... also dad, hows grandma west? tell her i love her and i think about her!! i hope she is doing well!!! dad i love you and i also know too that the lord is taking care of me.. he truly protects his missionaries and blesses their families! love you dad Grandma! thanks for the birthday invitation! i do wish i could be there but maybe for 80th birhtday? haha i will be there for that! and next year i will be there for your birthday too! it sounds like a good week for you! you siad you had the fifth sunday... we (sister and i) actually taught that lesson for the branch... haha it was great! and you asked about the branch and the people who live far away.. as for now, there is only one branch in tomsk so the people who live out of the city travel to church.. its pretty amazing to see their faith.. i know in some country people drive 4 hours to get to church... they really are great members! and it was great to hear about your service and the lady from sierra vista! the lord truly answers prayers i know... i am grateful you are doing that grandma you are a great example,.. also i am grateful grandpa is holding strong! i am so excited to see the change in him when i get home! thats truly a blessing and a tender mercy of the lord.. its helped me a lot out here in russia... anyway, you said something about a unique world? hahahahah grandma thats an understatement.. its crazy here.. i cant even explain it.. i will remember to take a ton of pictures so that i can show you guys.. oh! and you said about that boys call.. haha grandma i dont know how lucky i am... haha i think that south carolina will be a pretty crazy mission too.. and he will definetly have his trials.. i do feel lucky about my call but man.. its hard! hah sometimes i wish i was just in a temple! haha but then i think about my experiences and i wouldnt trade them for anything, i can really tell my children and grandchildren about this... its a great experience.i love you grandma!! tell grandma i love him too!
oK!!! on with my week... ok first off.. its june 1st!!! haha can you believe that!!! its been officially 6 months since i have been out.. thats so crazy to me! honestly! well thursday we went to the lee family, i have told you about them before... but this time the little girl shena was graduating from her little class.. so i did her hair in a cute little updo! haha she has amazing hair it was so fun! i have pictures i will have to send you.. anyway this family leaves in about 2 weeks for the whole summer! i am sad cause i probably wont be in tomsk when they get back.. i guess i can only pray for them. they are such an ideal family! then on friday we have an investigator galina, and she too is leaving for the summer! she however, goes on a boat, and its like a floating store, and they travel to little villages up north, where people dont have stores and stuff and they sell to all the villages.. its pretty interesting,.. anyway we went and saw her on her boat! and she is actually the cook... and there are 18 people who work on the boat.. it was actually a cool experience, its like a floating store.. haha so we got to see the boat and stuff before she left.. she too is ready for baptism but theres something thats holding her back! ahh its so had!! then also on friday i talked to a doctor about my knee... he said i have probably just aggrivated it and the cortozone shot masked the pain... so now that thats worn off i can feel it.. so we are working on a few things to make it better.. i do need new shoes though.. haha doctors orders i swear! haha then on saturday we went to this village and theres a camp there thats for kids who have bad families or no familes at all.. and we just cleaned this time.. (its kinda like a girls camp) and the area is so pretty.. but we cleaned for them and we go back this saturday and help with the kids.. i am excited to go and see the kids.. it should be a really good opportunity to serve! then that night we have sports night, we play frisbee (well i dont cause i cant :( and it started pouring rain! haha we have sweet pictures... other than that that weather got pretty hot yesterday.. it was actually 88 degrees! can you believe that! haha i am like sweating now! haha then on monday we taught the mongolians again.. haha its so great to teach them cause theres like 3 languages going on... anyway we have this girl gana.. and she is great we are just trying to really work with her! then yesterday.. this just kinda describes russian people.. we met with this lady from the branch.. and for the first 40 minutes... she sang.. just sang to us... hah we dont know why.. we just had to sit and listen.. it was pprrreeettttyyyy interesting.. man.. sometimes i really just cant put my mind around the country i am in right now.. sometimes i feel like its normal.. and then random things like people singing for 40 mintues, or i pee in a barn.. or like i went shopping this morning, and i cant find turkey! like just to eat! haha its just crazy to me... i am grateful for this experience though.. i have grown and learned a ton.. and i know it can only get better from here... its been 3 full months in the country and i have like 1 week less than a year left.. thats just crazy to me... time really does fly! well... we are hoping this week is great too! we have a busy week of course.. just trying to be the missionaries the lord wants... as for me and everything else... the language is coming... slowly but yes... its coming... i just want it to be here now! hah but the lord likes to test people... and i really do love my mission...... even though it seems like i am half way across the world.. oh wait i am.. haha and even though its a COMPLETELY different world here, i am learning and growing a lot... life has take on a whole new meaning and this church, has taken on a whole new meaning... truly it has... i love this church and i love you guys!!!
as for my friends.. i just sent some letter...
tell kristin if she can send me one of her cds to send one! and tell ashton to send me her wedding pictures!! helloooo! haha i have to see them!!!!!!!!
LOVE YOU GUYS!! LOVE SISTER WEST!!!!
it seems like everything is going well with you guys! i was glad to hear from.. well dad and grandma! haha its sad when you get so excited about emails and your mom doesnt even write you! haha its ok... next week right?
well.. dad first- it seems like a good week having gracie and gainer there.. tell katie i am sorry about the accident but she is in a great car right now! hah and the new bishopric? wow... that sounds like a good one though.. all three men are pretty great i would say! and about don... i wish that i could talk to zach and knock some sense into him.. he needs to realize that the mission isnt meant to be a walk in the park.. and if he thinks that every missionary who has served hasnt thought about going home is wrong... i can guarantee that EVERY missionary has wanted to go home and EVERY missionary has seriously thought about it... and we have to remember that its the lord who called us on a mission...i know that those times when i have had a hard time... i always think that the lord didnt send me on a mission to come home.. i have to realize that there are people here, for the next (now year)... who need me.. and heavenly father knows and knew that.. and he send me here, this specific place, this specific time.. for a reason.. and whenever i think about coming home, i realize how selfish it is because i would be missin out on those people who need me... anything.. thats my two cents about it.. i am truly sorry that he is coming home, but i can honestlty say i know EXACTLY what hes going through... i really do.. the misison is tough... especially in a different country and when you have given up so much, but in the end, we have to realize that when we give up this stuff for the lord, the lord will blessyou so much more... i dont know... tell him i am sorry and i wish him the best... and tell don i wil be praying for him... also dad, hows grandma west? tell her i love her and i think about her!! i hope she is doing well!!! dad i love you and i also know too that the lord is taking care of me.. he truly protects his missionaries and blesses their families! love you dad Grandma! thanks for the birthday invitation! i do wish i could be there but maybe for 80th birhtday? haha i will be there for that! and next year i will be there for your birthday too! it sounds like a good week for you! you siad you had the fifth sunday... we (sister and i) actually taught that lesson for the branch... haha it was great! and you asked about the branch and the people who live far away.. as for now, there is only one branch in tomsk so the people who live out of the city travel to church.. its pretty amazing to see their faith.. i know in some country people drive 4 hours to get to church... they really are great members! and it was great to hear about your service and the lady from sierra vista! the lord truly answers prayers i know... i am grateful you are doing that grandma you are a great example,.. also i am grateful grandpa is holding strong! i am so excited to see the change in him when i get home! thats truly a blessing and a tender mercy of the lord.. its helped me a lot out here in russia... anyway, you said something about a unique world? hahahahah grandma thats an understatement.. its crazy here.. i cant even explain it.. i will remember to take a ton of pictures so that i can show you guys.. oh! and you said about that boys call.. haha grandma i dont know how lucky i am... haha i think that south carolina will be a pretty crazy mission too.. and he will definetly have his trials.. i do feel lucky about my call but man.. its hard! hah sometimes i wish i was just in a temple! haha but then i think about my experiences and i wouldnt trade them for anything, i can really tell my children and grandchildren about this... its a great experience.i love you grandma!! tell grandma i love him too!
oK!!! on with my week... ok first off.. its june 1st!!! haha can you believe that!!! its been officially 6 months since i have been out.. thats so crazy to me! honestly! well thursday we went to the lee family, i have told you about them before... but this time the little girl shena was graduating from her little class.. so i did her hair in a cute little updo! haha she has amazing hair it was so fun! i have pictures i will have to send you.. anyway this family leaves in about 2 weeks for the whole summer! i am sad cause i probably wont be in tomsk when they get back.. i guess i can only pray for them. they are such an ideal family! then on friday we have an investigator galina, and she too is leaving for the summer! she however, goes on a boat, and its like a floating store, and they travel to little villages up north, where people dont have stores and stuff and they sell to all the villages.. its pretty interesting,.. anyway we went and saw her on her boat! and she is actually the cook... and there are 18 people who work on the boat.. it was actually a cool experience, its like a floating store.. haha so we got to see the boat and stuff before she left.. she too is ready for baptism but theres something thats holding her back! ahh its so had!! then also on friday i talked to a doctor about my knee... he said i have probably just aggrivated it and the cortozone shot masked the pain... so now that thats worn off i can feel it.. so we are working on a few things to make it better.. i do need new shoes though.. haha doctors orders i swear! haha then on saturday we went to this village and theres a camp there thats for kids who have bad families or no familes at all.. and we just cleaned this time.. (its kinda like a girls camp) and the area is so pretty.. but we cleaned for them and we go back this saturday and help with the kids.. i am excited to go and see the kids.. it should be a really good opportunity to serve! then that night we have sports night, we play frisbee (well i dont cause i cant :( and it started pouring rain! haha we have sweet pictures... other than that that weather got pretty hot yesterday.. it was actually 88 degrees! can you believe that! haha i am like sweating now! haha then on monday we taught the mongolians again.. haha its so great to teach them cause theres like 3 languages going on... anyway we have this girl gana.. and she is great we are just trying to really work with her! then yesterday.. this just kinda describes russian people.. we met with this lady from the branch.. and for the first 40 minutes... she sang.. just sang to us... hah we dont know why.. we just had to sit and listen.. it was pprrreeettttyyyy interesting.. man.. sometimes i really just cant put my mind around the country i am in right now.. sometimes i feel like its normal.. and then random things like people singing for 40 mintues, or i pee in a barn.. or like i went shopping this morning, and i cant find turkey! like just to eat! haha its just crazy to me... i am grateful for this experience though.. i have grown and learned a ton.. and i know it can only get better from here... its been 3 full months in the country and i have like 1 week less than a year left.. thats just crazy to me... time really does fly! well... we are hoping this week is great too! we have a busy week of course.. just trying to be the missionaries the lord wants... as for me and everything else... the language is coming... slowly but yes... its coming... i just want it to be here now! hah but the lord likes to test people... and i really do love my mission...... even though it seems like i am half way across the world.. oh wait i am.. haha and even though its a COMPLETELY different world here, i am learning and growing a lot... life has take on a whole new meaning and this church, has taken on a whole new meaning... truly it has... i love this church and i love you guys!!!
as for my friends.. i just sent some letter...
tell kristin if she can send me one of her cds to send one! and tell ashton to send me her wedding pictures!! helloooo! haha i have to see them!!!!!!!!
LOVE YOU GUYS!! LOVE SISTER WEST!!!!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Another Week!
Hello family!! well another week has gone by i cant believe it! it sounds like all of you guys are doing good!! Well i will start with my week! first off, last wednesday was our p day and we kinda relaxed that day because my knee has kinda been hurting.. but when our p day was over we met with this member emma, and she asked us to teach her about the plan of salvation... which was weird because our first meeting she said she believed in reincarnation... haha so we taught her and the whole time she was sooo interested! we were kinda scared at first becaue we didnt know if she wanted to argue with us or what when she asked us to teach her that, but the whole time she just listened and at the end we asked her to pray about it because and this is what we said "if this plan is true then reincarnation is not..." haha it was kinda bold but she agreed so we will see!! then we just met with a few other people during the next couple of days and on saturday my knee has been bugging me and pretty swolen so sister aland said i could take a day off, so we went to her apartment and she let us watch movies! haha we saw tangled and how to train your dragon.. (so not allowed) however, we had to sit there anyway and we had to preview the movies so the youth can watch them at a conference.. haha but it was a good day because i got to be off my leg for a little bit...then on sunday we met with our investigators lida and masha.. and we cant count them as progressing anymore because they didnt do what we asked them to do so that was sad, but we will still work with them, and once we have done all we can, we are going to have to tell them that as missionaries, we cant do anything more.. that they have to do it themselves! it is really hard! then monday... and this is what made my week soooo interesting... we woke up at 5 because we were going to see this member and she lives in a village and the only bus that leaves in the morning leaves at 615... so we woke up, bought a bus ticket and were on our way to ribavovo... weird name i dont know how to spell it in english.. it takes only about an hour to get there so we got there at 715 and we met with olga... and shes kinda a crazy women.. shes a great member but crazy... and she lives in this village and everyone in this village basically knows eachother... anyway we get to her house and its so sad.. she has like nothin, and what she does have is broken.. and her apartment is soooo dirty and gross..and keep in mind.. the only bus that leaves this town leaves at 2!! so i was like " i seriously have to be here for like 7 hours.." hah but i guess thats missionary work..then we helped her son with english cause he isnt doing wel in school and he left and we taught her, then we had brought stuff to make a cake.. and this is improtant too.. i went to the bathroom at olgas apartment and i almost threw up.. so... thats important for this story.. but she didnt have an oven, so she called this lady and she let us go get her oven.. so we went to this ladies house.. taeese.. weird name too i know.. and she had this oven, hard to explain.. but it was like a pan with a lid, and the lid heated up.. and you heated up the lid and cooked the top of the cake first, then you put the pan on a burner and it cooked the bottom, i have a picture i will have to send it to you.. anyone.. something i havent ever seen but kinda like a dutch oven that was electric..THen.. it was interesting because she let us come in and teach her? and we had NOOO idea! so we taught her about joseph smith and the book of mormon and she was interested so we gave her a book of mormon and she said she would read! whcih is soo great! so that was a good meeting but by the end i really had to go to the
bathroom! so i asked her because i didnt want to go at olgas because it was gross.. and she said "Oh its not working but you can just go outside!" haha so i was like "thats great, i would rather go outside then in olgas house.." so she leads me to her backyard which you can see from the road.. and the fence is about up to my chest and made out of wood so you can see through it and she opens the gait and says "go right here nobody will watch or see you!" hahaha and i was like "right here?" and in my head, i was like "EVERYBODY CAN SEE ME! THE GAIT IS SEE THROUGH! and its only up to my chest,. and at this point sister is dying laughing.. and then all the sudden, about 20 chickens come running out of the chicken coop! haha and i was like, i cant go here because the chickens will attack me... anyway.. she asked why i wasnt going and i just said laughing "i cant go
here!" hah so she took me to the back of her house in this little abandon barn thing and it was so nast and gross but it was hidden from everyone.. so yep.. i went there! haha but.. it was better then going in the gross
toilet... ahaha so if i get diseases you know what! haha this barn was just old and who knows what was in there, i should have been scared but it was kinda like going when you are camping, except i was in a skirt?,,, haha
anyway that was my crazy story this week!
Then on tuesday we met with galina.. and she needs to be baptized she has been a 12 year investigator.. but she is working on a river cruise ship this summber so friday we actually get to see her... on the boat its going to be so cool! anyway, i will get to answering your questions, but other than that.. this
week wasnt too bad..
and this week should be busy tooo!
ok! tell telicia and courtney thanks for the letters! courtney i wish i could send you a letter to thailand but i am so happy you are doing that! haha the living situation sounds crazy! but i can understand where you are
coming from! hahah love you i will send you a real letter soon! telicia! your belly is so cute! i wrote you a letter and it should be getting to you soon! amy and brooke i wrote you too!> mom, it sounds like things are good! i will see if i can figure out my account here in russia...
you asked if people had freedom? ya they do here, its hard to leave the country but other than that things are pretty normal... and ya we see the missionaries here in tomsk almost every day so thats great
too! we all teach english club together because there are 3 groups so thats great..
i am excited the summer for you is starting! that should be great.. i cant
believe summer is here!
dad... thanks for the email! it sounds like you and gainer swim a ton like you did last year! haha its always fun to hear gainer stories and the things he says!
i love you dad!
grandma! it sounds like that concert was amazing i hope to be able to see them when i come home! and grandpa is a priest! thats awesome! tell jamie congrats for me too for graduation!
love you grandma!
ok.. i am sorry i dont have much time i will send pictures hopefully next
week!
i love you guys and i really do appreciate when you write me! it helps
soooooooo much! i love you guys! talk to you next week!
mom make sure you send some to amy ok? the ones i sent to dad and you! love
you soo much!
>
bathroom! so i asked her because i didnt want to go at olgas because it was gross.. and she said "Oh its not working but you can just go outside!" haha so i was like "thats great, i would rather go outside then in olgas house.." so she leads me to her backyard which you can see from the road.. and the fence is about up to my chest and made out of wood so you can see through it and she opens the gait and says "go right here nobody will watch or see you!" hahaha and i was like "right here?" and in my head, i was like "EVERYBODY CAN SEE ME! THE GAIT IS SEE THROUGH! and its only up to my chest,. and at this point sister is dying laughing.. and then all the sudden, about 20 chickens come running out of the chicken coop! haha and i was like, i cant go here because the chickens will attack me... anyway.. she asked why i wasnt going and i just said laughing "i cant go
here!" hah so she took me to the back of her house in this little abandon barn thing and it was so nast and gross but it was hidden from everyone.. so yep.. i went there! haha but.. it was better then going in the gross
toilet... ahaha so if i get diseases you know what! haha this barn was just old and who knows what was in there, i should have been scared but it was kinda like going when you are camping, except i was in a skirt?,,, haha
anyway that was my crazy story this week!
Then on tuesday we met with galina.. and she needs to be baptized she has been a 12 year investigator.. but she is working on a river cruise ship this summber so friday we actually get to see her... on the boat its going to be so cool! anyway, i will get to answering your questions, but other than that.. this
week wasnt too bad..
and this week should be busy tooo!
ok! tell telicia and courtney thanks for the letters! courtney i wish i could send you a letter to thailand but i am so happy you are doing that! haha the living situation sounds crazy! but i can understand where you are
coming from! hahah love you i will send you a real letter soon! telicia! your belly is so cute! i wrote you a letter and it should be getting to you soon! amy and brooke i wrote you too!> mom, it sounds like things are good! i will see if i can figure out my account here in russia...
you asked if people had freedom? ya they do here, its hard to leave the country but other than that things are pretty normal... and ya we see the missionaries here in tomsk almost every day so thats great
too! we all teach english club together because there are 3 groups so thats great..
i am excited the summer for you is starting! that should be great.. i cant
believe summer is here!
dad... thanks for the email! it sounds like you and gainer swim a ton like you did last year! haha its always fun to hear gainer stories and the things he says!
i love you dad!
grandma! it sounds like that concert was amazing i hope to be able to see them when i come home! and grandpa is a priest! thats awesome! tell jamie congrats for me too for graduation!
love you grandma!
ok.. i am sorry i dont have much time i will send pictures hopefully next
week!
i love you guys and i really do appreciate when you write me! it helps
soooooooo much! i love you guys! talk to you next week!
mom make sure you send some to amy ok? the ones i sent to dad and you! love
you soo much!
>
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Hello!
FAMILY!!!! helloooo!!! thanks for your emails!! i am going to start writing
my week first and then i will send emails back to you guys!! ok first off, finland was AMAZING! seriously.. the missionaries here call it the fairy land because first of all.. finish is the strangest language ever and they sound like fairys when they speak it.. and secondly.. its the most beautiful country ever.. its europe which makes it way different than russia.. its so clean and the people are all beautiful.. they all like ride
bikes and look so happy! haha then they all speak english too!!! its like the perfect place to live.. sister trottier and i were like "um,... why didnt we get called here?" haha no no.. russia is a good place but yes,
finland is amazing! i would actually hope that if you guys came and got me that we could fly to finland after and do the temple there together!! you guys would love it!!!
Ok! to start off, last wednesday i got on a bus and got to novo around 9, I stayed the the makalys house, and then woke up at 5 to get on my flight to moscow! it wasnt too bad its like a 4 hour flight, then i saw all the missionaries there waiting for me in moscow! including sister trottier!! which was sooo fun to see here! it was me sister trottier sister margelies and then 5 elders! 4 of which it was their last visa trip! then we got on a
flight from moscow to finland and its only and hour flight which is so nice!! then we landed in finland and got on a bus which takes us to this mall thing... which i sent a picture and it has an H&M haha so next time the
sisters decided we would shop.. we then walked to the temple cause its only about ten minutes away and got in our into our rooms, the temple housing is right next to the temple so its nice.. and its way nice too! then we were off for a little adventure.. the elders knew where they were going so it was nice! so we took a tram into the center of finland where there was the big church i sent a picture of.. and let me tell you, the center is amazing! its just like europe, lots of cafes and nice shopping and cars!! it was so fun!! so we walked through the center to the fairy, which took us to this island in finland! and its just an old island where people live, but i think its like a war island or something, anyway, we just walked around the island all day and took pictures and everything! it was soooo fun! its funny being with elders cause they are hysterical! I am not used to hanging out with 21 year olds! hahaha it was so fun and so pretty! and they have amazing food there.. they have this yogurt that like.. the best thing ever, and their chocolate is amazing too!! hah basically finland is amazing! then after our adventure on the island we got back on the fairy and headed back... we got some food and made food then went to bed.. it was funny cause we were sooo tired cause 1030 there was like 2 in novo! haha but sister trottier and i still managed to wake up at 615! haha it was crazy! but we work up the next day and this was kinda a day to relax.. we got to spend the day until 1 in the temple and we did a session and finland temple is beautiful! man, i didnt realize how much i missed the temple until i went there.. it was such an amazing experience to be there.. in our session we had it translated into 4 languages i think.. english, finnish and russian and i think spanish! it was crazy! (we just have little headsets) but it was so amazing! i loved it! then we were back on a bus to go to the airport! we all flew to moscow and then we waited about 4 hours for our flights and then i was off to novo.. at this point it was friday night and i arrived in novo sat at 5 am.. i waited at the makalys again until my bus left at 8 am.. then i got on a bus for tomsk and got to tomsk by noon! haha it was quite the fast trip but definetely great! it was an amazing experience! and right when i got back we had a meeting and sports night! haha so i was dead exhausted but we got
right back to work!so all in all.. finland was amazing! seriously.. we will HAVE TO go if you
guys come here! seriously.. so plan on it!! then saturday night sports night.. we play ultimate frisbee and about 20 or so people come! oh! we got new misisonaries and elder haynes./.. who is in don and traceys
ward is in tomsk now! haha small world! he graduated 2009 so we went to high school together!
Anyway, we now have 6 elders here in tomsk and then us sisters,... two elders set 2 baptismal dates!! yay!!!!! we were sooo excited for them! anyway.. then sunday the alands got back from their adventure, they were gone for 2 weeks in turkey and moscow and finland too! so we saw them, then monday was an awesome day! we had FHE with the lee family.. i have mentioned them before... and they brought all their kids! so there were about 6 kids there and then 6 missionaries! and it went really well! the family had so much fun and the dad said they would do that at their house now! so it was a success!! we want to get them baptized... and it was crazy, the little girl mika, she is about 7 i believe, and she was asking sister all these questions about christ.. like deep questions, like she just knew everything, she even said "so, its impossible to live without christ right?" and thinking about it.. ya it basically is,... it was kinda an eye openeing experience because we know she knows a lot.. we want them to be baptized so bad! the three little girls know they need to be we just need to get the parents on board! so hopefully!!! and then yesterday i cut hair and had english club... overal it was an interesting week.. it was kinda a crazy week what with talking to you guys and going to finland and coming back to missionary work... but it was amazing!! we are starting a new transfer and have set some goals so hopefully we can achieve them! let me tell you, missionary work is challenging but its definetely an experience i wont get anywhere else.. i have learned a lot being here, and i have grown in ways i couldnt have without this mission... and the gospel has completely opened new avenues of learning and looking at life for me..
I want to let you guys know that i know that this church is true... i know that only our church contains the fulness of the gospel... only our church contains the fulness of gods plan for us and the only way we can return to him... i know that we have a prophet who holds the keys which we need to have the whole gospel... i know that the book of mormon is true and as we read it it can open new windows of understanding for us and can answer our questions we have at that> very moment...I cant tell you guys how this church just makes sense to me.. i can only tell you that its something i feel.. and i know i couldnt have felt it without this mission... i know that this is where i needed to be now...
thanks for all of you guys support! i love you guys and i am grateful that> you love me enough to support me!! i am sorry i dont have time to answer emails.. pictures took too long! but keep writing me! > tell amy and brooke i got their emails and i am sending them a real letter!> thanks for writing me friends!! i love youuuuu!! grandma i got the pictures thanks sooo much! i love themmmmmm!!!!
tell telicia i love her and to send me pictures to me email! i dont know my address in novo!
tell court to have a great time in tailand! so random! hahahahaha> tell leyla i love her and am praying about her!!!
dad and mom i love you guys so much! keep up the work you are doing at home!
you guys are amazing i love you!!!!
and i didnt get to send the package so hopefully soon!
ok i love you guys! all of you! talk to you all next weekkkkk!!!! LOVE YOU
ALLLLL!!!!!
my week first and then i will send emails back to you guys!! ok first off, finland was AMAZING! seriously.. the missionaries here call it the fairy land because first of all.. finish is the strangest language ever and they sound like fairys when they speak it.. and secondly.. its the most beautiful country ever.. its europe which makes it way different than russia.. its so clean and the people are all beautiful.. they all like ride
bikes and look so happy! haha then they all speak english too!!! its like the perfect place to live.. sister trottier and i were like "um,... why didnt we get called here?" haha no no.. russia is a good place but yes,
finland is amazing! i would actually hope that if you guys came and got me that we could fly to finland after and do the temple there together!! you guys would love it!!!
Ok! to start off, last wednesday i got on a bus and got to novo around 9, I stayed the the makalys house, and then woke up at 5 to get on my flight to moscow! it wasnt too bad its like a 4 hour flight, then i saw all the missionaries there waiting for me in moscow! including sister trottier!! which was sooo fun to see here! it was me sister trottier sister margelies and then 5 elders! 4 of which it was their last visa trip! then we got on a
flight from moscow to finland and its only and hour flight which is so nice!! then we landed in finland and got on a bus which takes us to this mall thing... which i sent a picture and it has an H&M haha so next time the
sisters decided we would shop.. we then walked to the temple cause its only about ten minutes away and got in our into our rooms, the temple housing is right next to the temple so its nice.. and its way nice too! then we were off for a little adventure.. the elders knew where they were going so it was nice! so we took a tram into the center of finland where there was the big church i sent a picture of.. and let me tell you, the center is amazing! its just like europe, lots of cafes and nice shopping and cars!! it was so fun!! so we walked through the center to the fairy, which took us to this island in finland! and its just an old island where people live, but i think its like a war island or something, anyway, we just walked around the island all day and took pictures and everything! it was soooo fun! its funny being with elders cause they are hysterical! I am not used to hanging out with 21 year olds! hahaha it was so fun and so pretty! and they have amazing food there.. they have this yogurt that like.. the best thing ever, and their chocolate is amazing too!! hah basically finland is amazing! then after our adventure on the island we got back on the fairy and headed back... we got some food and made food then went to bed.. it was funny cause we were sooo tired cause 1030 there was like 2 in novo! haha but sister trottier and i still managed to wake up at 615! haha it was crazy! but we work up the next day and this was kinda a day to relax.. we got to spend the day until 1 in the temple and we did a session and finland temple is beautiful! man, i didnt realize how much i missed the temple until i went there.. it was such an amazing experience to be there.. in our session we had it translated into 4 languages i think.. english, finnish and russian and i think spanish! it was crazy! (we just have little headsets) but it was so amazing! i loved it! then we were back on a bus to go to the airport! we all flew to moscow and then we waited about 4 hours for our flights and then i was off to novo.. at this point it was friday night and i arrived in novo sat at 5 am.. i waited at the makalys again until my bus left at 8 am.. then i got on a bus for tomsk and got to tomsk by noon! haha it was quite the fast trip but definetely great! it was an amazing experience! and right when i got back we had a meeting and sports night! haha so i was dead exhausted but we got
right back to work!so all in all.. finland was amazing! seriously.. we will HAVE TO go if you
guys come here! seriously.. so plan on it!! then saturday night sports night.. we play ultimate frisbee and about 20 or so people come! oh! we got new misisonaries and elder haynes./.. who is in don and traceys
ward is in tomsk now! haha small world! he graduated 2009 so we went to high school together!
Anyway, we now have 6 elders here in tomsk and then us sisters,... two elders set 2 baptismal dates!! yay!!!!! we were sooo excited for them! anyway.. then sunday the alands got back from their adventure, they were gone for 2 weeks in turkey and moscow and finland too! so we saw them, then monday was an awesome day! we had FHE with the lee family.. i have mentioned them before... and they brought all their kids! so there were about 6 kids there and then 6 missionaries! and it went really well! the family had so much fun and the dad said they would do that at their house now! so it was a success!! we want to get them baptized... and it was crazy, the little girl mika, she is about 7 i believe, and she was asking sister all these questions about christ.. like deep questions, like she just knew everything, she even said "so, its impossible to live without christ right?" and thinking about it.. ya it basically is,... it was kinda an eye openeing experience because we know she knows a lot.. we want them to be baptized so bad! the three little girls know they need to be we just need to get the parents on board! so hopefully!!! and then yesterday i cut hair and had english club... overal it was an interesting week.. it was kinda a crazy week what with talking to you guys and going to finland and coming back to missionary work... but it was amazing!! we are starting a new transfer and have set some goals so hopefully we can achieve them! let me tell you, missionary work is challenging but its definetely an experience i wont get anywhere else.. i have learned a lot being here, and i have grown in ways i couldnt have without this mission... and the gospel has completely opened new avenues of learning and looking at life for me..
I want to let you guys know that i know that this church is true... i know that only our church contains the fulness of the gospel... only our church contains the fulness of gods plan for us and the only way we can return to him... i know that we have a prophet who holds the keys which we need to have the whole gospel... i know that the book of mormon is true and as we read it it can open new windows of understanding for us and can answer our questions we have at that> very moment...I cant tell you guys how this church just makes sense to me.. i can only tell you that its something i feel.. and i know i couldnt have felt it without this mission... i know that this is where i needed to be now...
thanks for all of you guys support! i love you guys and i am grateful that> you love me enough to support me!! i am sorry i dont have time to answer emails.. pictures took too long! but keep writing me! > tell amy and brooke i got their emails and i am sending them a real letter!> thanks for writing me friends!! i love youuuuu!! grandma i got the pictures thanks sooo much! i love themmmmmm!!!!
tell telicia i love her and to send me pictures to me email! i dont know my address in novo!
tell court to have a great time in tailand! so random! hahahahaha> tell leyla i love her and am praying about her!!!
dad and mom i love you guys so much! keep up the work you are doing at home!
you guys are amazing i love you!!!!
and i didnt get to send the package so hopefully soon!
ok i love you guys! all of you! talk to you all next weekkkkk!!!! LOVE YOU
ALLLLL!!!!!
Friday, May 13, 2011
Temple soon!
o this week was a pretty fun week!! it was great to get to talk to you guys! i am so happy that i got to talk to everybody! Its strange to think that i wont talk to you till christmas though.. that seems so far away.. but summers always fly by dont they? i am thinking that it will be the same on the mission.. and keeping in mind that i really only have one month of a real summer.. they say that it only gets really hot for one month? so we will see! after i talked to you we went over to the alands apartment and met all the missionaries there.. the elders there were cooking lunch! hah it was great to see four boys making food.. we had chicken and mashed potatoes and veggies... then we watched chronicals of narnia, the third one.. but they didnt have it in english so we watched it in russian,... then i made crepes for everyone, then we got to watch another movie and we watched toy story 3.. this time it was in english, so i understood all of it.. haha and then the mongolians came over because one of the elders here, elder Gushin, got transfered so they wanted to say goodbye.. and we all just hung out and played phase ten.. it was a pretty interesting day because i am not used to not doing anything! haha then the next day we had a lunch planned with this family, the lee family,and guess what we did again.. tacos! haha and guess who was in charge again? me! haha for some reason they thing i am like mexican or something, little do they know i usually bought everything when i made mexican food... but i can tell you guys that i have made probably 600 tortillas in the past week! i am not going to come back russian, i am going to come back mexican. haha anyways, this family is great, they picked us up early to take us shopping to get the food to make and we went to this store called metro.. and its like a costco because you have to have a card to get in, but then its probably more like wal mart with the stuff there... its pretty cool here in russia because there arent many stores like that around.. and guess what i
bought there.. MANGOS! haha so mom you dont have to send any.. even though i would still love them... anyway we bought everything there and then we went to the bus station to send off elder gushin... everyone was so sad to see him go because he goes home in 2 months and hes from ukraine. hes a way
awesome missionary so everyone loves him... and then we went to make the food. all the missionaries who were here in tomsk went and it was really fun. THe mom, yana, loved the tacos... (this family ps arent members... ) we are doing what we can to make them members because they are soooo perfect! they have 4 little girls and 2 little boys.. (which is a ton for russia) and the dad always tells his girls they are going to serve mission. so we just need to build their testimonies... And then after that we met with this lady emma.. and we got there and she said "i was just about to color my hair" haha and so i did it for her, except she just bleaches her hair all over... and i HATE doing that.. but thats what she had and she was going to do it herself anyways so i just did it.. i would usualy NEVER just bleach someones scalp.. it was funny cause sister vasilevskaya talked her into doing a new color.. anyway she is great and she loves us which is awesome, cause before we went to her house and helped her clean and she didnt think i knew how to clean cause i was american, and she didnt like me so much haha but now she does..then english club again! and yes, we still do english club! the osama thing hasnt stopped us at all.. it was fun i taught my class popcorn popping because they were all little kids.. and then they sang it to the older groups...
Oh and for everyone who doesnt know, i am staying in tomsk for another transfer with sister vasilevskaya... we will be together for 3 transfers which is a 4th of my mission.. crazy huh? haha its ok.. we get along.. we
have fun most of the time its just differernt because we are from 2 completely different parts of the world. but we dont have problems at all...we just have lots to work on as missionaries.. but we are doing what we
can...aynways, yes we are staying and we are actually getting 3 new american missionaries... which is awesome..so there will be a lot of americans here and so english club will be way better.. and we will actually have 6 elders here cause one of the elders here will have a mini missionariy... so this should be a way fun transfer! anyways.,. the big news today is that i leave in about 3 hours to go to novosibirsk and them tomorrow moscow and FINLAND!!! i am so excited to go to the temple.. its crazy when you dont get to go for a while! and i am so excited to see sister trottier too... this should be a way fun trip because we have 8 people going.. all the rest of the people going its their last visa trip... so we will see what happens next visa... i am pretty sure we will be with the missionaries who come in today... we have 3 new elders coming today and one will be serving here in tomsk.. anyway, i guess that i will be flying to moscow by myself because the rest of the people fly out of the cities that they are in... so i will leave tomorrow(thursday) to fly to moscow,... i get on a bus here and drive to novosibirsk.. its about a 5 hour bus ride.. but i have to go alone and i dont want to cause who knows who i will sit by hahah...so next letter should be a packed full letter...
well... i dont really have much to say... ive been reading about alma and amulek lately and when i was reading about how alma went to preach to the city where amulek lived and they rejected him, and when he left the lord told him to go back... and i love how in the scriptures its says something like "he immediately went back"... and i think about alma, and how strong of a missionary he was... and i compare myself to him and think "i have a ton to work on..." because alma was rejected and spat on and hit and all this crazy stuff and yet he still tried to preach to them, and when he thought he had done all he could.. the lord said no.. go back.. and he didnt even question it.. he just went back (i love how it says he went through the city a different way cause he probably wanted to go unoticed and not get kicked out again ahah) and then he went and amulek was there waiting because the lord had prepared him...it makes me think about how sometimes.. i just want to give up on someone, or not do something because "oh.. ive already done that" but the lord work in mysterious ways.. and sometimes, things dont happen immediately.. we have> to go back and try it again...
If i have learned anything from my mission so far is that the lord definetely has a plan for each of us, and sometimes its not what we want, just like alma probably didnt want to go back and teach a city who already completely rejected him... however, if we do what the lord says, and in his ways.. we will be the people he has intended us to be.and i have realized that the best things in life are deffinetely not easy to get... as missionaries, if we want something we have to work for it and have learned that the hard way.. but i am glad i have learned it now and not> later in my mission...
anyways... i hope this all makes sense! i have nothing more to say really but i love you guys and i hope all is well... tell my friends i am disowning them for not emailing me.. even though i send them keychains too.. haha and that i want pictures of the new dog and ashtons wedding! tell them to email them to me!
bought there.. MANGOS! haha so mom you dont have to send any.. even though i would still love them... anyway we bought everything there and then we went to the bus station to send off elder gushin... everyone was so sad to see him go because he goes home in 2 months and hes from ukraine. hes a way
awesome missionary so everyone loves him... and then we went to make the food. all the missionaries who were here in tomsk went and it was really fun. THe mom, yana, loved the tacos... (this family ps arent members... ) we are doing what we can to make them members because they are soooo perfect! they have 4 little girls and 2 little boys.. (which is a ton for russia) and the dad always tells his girls they are going to serve mission. so we just need to build their testimonies... And then after that we met with this lady emma.. and we got there and she said "i was just about to color my hair" haha and so i did it for her, except she just bleaches her hair all over... and i HATE doing that.. but thats what she had and she was going to do it herself anyways so i just did it.. i would usualy NEVER just bleach someones scalp.. it was funny cause sister vasilevskaya talked her into doing a new color.. anyway she is great and she loves us which is awesome, cause before we went to her house and helped her clean and she didnt think i knew how to clean cause i was american, and she didnt like me so much haha but now she does..then english club again! and yes, we still do english club! the osama thing hasnt stopped us at all.. it was fun i taught my class popcorn popping because they were all little kids.. and then they sang it to the older groups...
Oh and for everyone who doesnt know, i am staying in tomsk for another transfer with sister vasilevskaya... we will be together for 3 transfers which is a 4th of my mission.. crazy huh? haha its ok.. we get along.. we
have fun most of the time its just differernt because we are from 2 completely different parts of the world. but we dont have problems at all...we just have lots to work on as missionaries.. but we are doing what we
can...aynways, yes we are staying and we are actually getting 3 new american missionaries... which is awesome..so there will be a lot of americans here and so english club will be way better.. and we will actually have 6 elders here cause one of the elders here will have a mini missionariy... so this should be a way fun transfer! anyways.,. the big news today is that i leave in about 3 hours to go to novosibirsk and them tomorrow moscow and FINLAND!!! i am so excited to go to the temple.. its crazy when you dont get to go for a while! and i am so excited to see sister trottier too... this should be a way fun trip because we have 8 people going.. all the rest of the people going its their last visa trip... so we will see what happens next visa... i am pretty sure we will be with the missionaries who come in today... we have 3 new elders coming today and one will be serving here in tomsk.. anyway, i guess that i will be flying to moscow by myself because the rest of the people fly out of the cities that they are in... so i will leave tomorrow(thursday) to fly to moscow,... i get on a bus here and drive to novosibirsk.. its about a 5 hour bus ride.. but i have to go alone and i dont want to cause who knows who i will sit by hahah...so next letter should be a packed full letter...
well... i dont really have much to say... ive been reading about alma and amulek lately and when i was reading about how alma went to preach to the city where amulek lived and they rejected him, and when he left the lord told him to go back... and i love how in the scriptures its says something like "he immediately went back"... and i think about alma, and how strong of a missionary he was... and i compare myself to him and think "i have a ton to work on..." because alma was rejected and spat on and hit and all this crazy stuff and yet he still tried to preach to them, and when he thought he had done all he could.. the lord said no.. go back.. and he didnt even question it.. he just went back (i love how it says he went through the city a different way cause he probably wanted to go unoticed and not get kicked out again ahah) and then he went and amulek was there waiting because the lord had prepared him...it makes me think about how sometimes.. i just want to give up on someone, or not do something because "oh.. ive already done that" but the lord work in mysterious ways.. and sometimes, things dont happen immediately.. we have> to go back and try it again...
If i have learned anything from my mission so far is that the lord definetely has a plan for each of us, and sometimes its not what we want, just like alma probably didnt want to go back and teach a city who already completely rejected him... however, if we do what the lord says, and in his ways.. we will be the people he has intended us to be.and i have realized that the best things in life are deffinetely not easy to get... as missionaries, if we want something we have to work for it and have learned that the hard way.. but i am glad i have learned it now and not> later in my mission...
anyways... i hope this all makes sense! i have nothing more to say really but i love you guys and i hope all is well... tell my friends i am disowning them for not emailing me.. even though i send them keychains too.. haha and that i want pictures of the new dog and ashtons wedding! tell them to email them to me!
I get to talk to you soon!!!
Well i will start off with my week again, it wasnt as crazy at last week so wednesday i went to that family i told you, the lee family and did their hair, i did three haircuts and a color. it turned out really well and they
loved that an american was doing it. they actually own their own little salon so they showed me around there first.. the mom said she liked the way i cut her hair.. this family is amazing though.. they are investigating and
their one daughter who is 18 is a member and then they have like 6 little kids (which is really unusual for russia) and the 3 little girls do gymnasitcs. We were hesitant to teach them because we thought they just
liked americans but now the dad said that he is starting to read the book of mormon and he is understanding it.. its kinda funny cause this family is kinda a joint effort between the missionaries.. we all go and teach them and they love to have us over... and every time we come they always feed us this huge meal! so we are hoping they come to know the truth sometime... then on thursday it snowed!!!!! we thought it was going to be hot so we didnt wear our coats and yep... snow! its like utah weather here you never
know what you are going to get.. i have some pretty funny pictures in it though.. it was the kinda snow that it just sticks in your hair... then we met with this lady, galina,... she has 2 daughters her served missions and
comes to church every week and does all a member does but isnt a member... kinda sounds like you mom huh? haha so we go and teach her and we are just waiting till she is ready. she knows she needs to be baptized we just dont know exactly what to tell her to help her find that one answer she is looking for.. we hope it is coming soon though... i love her though.. she always worries about me being cold outside.. haah she is always like "wear my jacket wear my shoes! you are going to get sick" haha even when its 90
degrees outside... she is great oh! and on thurdsday i played all of we thank thee o god for a prophet on
the piano! haah i will play the piano when i get home! haah then friday i went and cut sister alands hair (she is the older couple) and she wanted to give me something so we went and picked out material cause she
wants to teach me how to make a skirt... she is so nice i love her.. i told her if her son isnt married when i get home that i want to be in their family hahaha they are so great. They left this week for 2 weeks so if i get
transfered i wont see them! i am sad! hopefully i stay here, i like tomck... Then on satrday we went and met with this armanian girl who is a member of the church, she came to church on easter with her husband but her husband isnt a member and the whole situation was strange, well she invited us to come see her, but we couldnt go into her house beceause her family didnt accept that she was a member of a different church... anyway, so come upto her house, and it is an apartment on top of a grocery store.. and there are 3 apartments next to eachoter and they are 3 brothers who are all armanian and who all run businesses together.. well she lives with her husband and his family in one, and they have an arranged marriage, so she is basically told what to do which is so strange so her family doesnt accept the gospel... but her cousins family, who lives next door, are christian and she totally welcomed us in and she wanted to learn more about the gospel. and side not, these apartments are super nice! really wealthy fmaily.. anyway..we taught her the first lesson and she is interested and we are excited to meet with her again... its just interesting cause one brother doesnt agree with the church and the other is compltely open to it.. and i had heard about the whole arranged married thing but i had never seen it,.. but i saw it first hand! but this girl who is a member is such a good missionary..even though her family doesnt accept she does all she can to come to church and be a missionary to her family.. so we are hoping things go well for her and her cousin! then after that we went to the alands and prepared mexican food because we promised the mongolians we would cook them food! so sister aland and i made enchiladas.. and get this, we had no tortillas and there arent any in russia.. so gues what! i made my own! hahah they were just like the ones at costco (ok not really) but i was so proud! and they worked! so i am going to learn how to make them better so i can make them really good when i get home... and that meeting went really well.. they brought 3 mongolians who werent memebers of the church! one of them, ghana, had a baptisimal date and then decided not to be baptized, so we are really working with her.. other than that the two who are members, sonsar and mogy are amazing members.. its interesting being there cause we have 3 languages going when we teach we have enlgish and mongolian and russian because they know english just as well as russian.. so its interesting... then sunday was my 5 month mark! when i wrote may first in my journal i was shocked!!! i cant believe it! well then we went to galina.. the lady that i love who had 2 daughters serve missions, and we made mexican food there, she loved it cause she was a cook and likes to learn different things.. it was really fun! then we went home cause i havent been feeling well lately.. i think alergies are getting to me and my head has been pounding! then monday... yes we heard osama bin laden was killed.. it was interesting cause just for percausiion here, because there are lots of islams, the area 70 wrote us a letter telling us to take our nametags off and not to speak any english at all.. and we have to do that until they tell us.. it was kinda scary at first cause it seemed like a huge step right? but its ok i realized the church just really protects their missionaries.. its just weird being in a different country when things like that happens.. cause i am on their side of the world... so i hope everything goes ok.. we are safe though nothing to worry about... then we sewed my skirt! hah really simple pattern but yes, i made a skirt (with sister alands help) its really cute too.. haha that or my style has just gone way down.. im guessing its probably my style but i like it.. haha i laughed because i am going to come home knowing how to sew, play the piano and make tortillas.. haha maybe this isnt what a mission is about? haha no dont worry we are helping people too...then yesterday we had a meeting with a member family and they live like out in the country. it was like 5 hours to get there meet and get back, and i havent been feeling well so we went back and i went to bed, i just dont want to get even more sick but i am ok dont worry! anyway, that was my week! hopefully this week goes well too! i get to talk to you sunday! yay!!! and then i leave to finland on thursday! I am soooo excited! i miss the temple so much! and i am so excited to see sister trottier! haha and then we have transfer calls on friday! so we will see if i stay in tomsk or go somewhere else! i love it here so hopefully i stay... oh! and ps... if you can send me dried mangos from costco please do.. i dont know why but i have been craving those like no other! hahaha i know so weird right? hahah but please! birthday present please! and i am sending you a package from finland! with dolls and stuff..hopefully it isnt too much! and pictures.. i htink i am going to buy another picture card cause its so hard to get my pictures to a cd.. anyway... i love you guys and i appreciate your letters.. i miss you but i am excited to hear your voices.. i am going to cry right away so just beware! haha tell my friends i love them but i am sad they dont email me.. brats haha i hope ashtons wedding went well!!!! and kristin!!! send me a cd if you can! of you and your beautiful voice! i listen to church music and i want to hear you! miss you love you!
loved that an american was doing it. they actually own their own little salon so they showed me around there first.. the mom said she liked the way i cut her hair.. this family is amazing though.. they are investigating and
their one daughter who is 18 is a member and then they have like 6 little kids (which is really unusual for russia) and the 3 little girls do gymnasitcs. We were hesitant to teach them because we thought they just
liked americans but now the dad said that he is starting to read the book of mormon and he is understanding it.. its kinda funny cause this family is kinda a joint effort between the missionaries.. we all go and teach them and they love to have us over... and every time we come they always feed us this huge meal! so we are hoping they come to know the truth sometime... then on thursday it snowed!!!!! we thought it was going to be hot so we didnt wear our coats and yep... snow! its like utah weather here you never
know what you are going to get.. i have some pretty funny pictures in it though.. it was the kinda snow that it just sticks in your hair... then we met with this lady, galina,... she has 2 daughters her served missions and
comes to church every week and does all a member does but isnt a member... kinda sounds like you mom huh? haha so we go and teach her and we are just waiting till she is ready. she knows she needs to be baptized we just dont know exactly what to tell her to help her find that one answer she is looking for.. we hope it is coming soon though... i love her though.. she always worries about me being cold outside.. haah she is always like "wear my jacket wear my shoes! you are going to get sick" haha even when its 90
degrees outside... she is great oh! and on thurdsday i played all of we thank thee o god for a prophet on
the piano! haah i will play the piano when i get home! haah then friday i went and cut sister alands hair (she is the older couple) and she wanted to give me something so we went and picked out material cause she
wants to teach me how to make a skirt... she is so nice i love her.. i told her if her son isnt married when i get home that i want to be in their family hahaha they are so great. They left this week for 2 weeks so if i get
transfered i wont see them! i am sad! hopefully i stay here, i like tomck... Then on satrday we went and met with this armanian girl who is a member of the church, she came to church on easter with her husband but her husband isnt a member and the whole situation was strange, well she invited us to come see her, but we couldnt go into her house beceause her family didnt accept that she was a member of a different church... anyway, so come upto her house, and it is an apartment on top of a grocery store.. and there are 3 apartments next to eachoter and they are 3 brothers who are all armanian and who all run businesses together.. well she lives with her husband and his family in one, and they have an arranged marriage, so she is basically told what to do which is so strange so her family doesnt accept the gospel... but her cousins family, who lives next door, are christian and she totally welcomed us in and she wanted to learn more about the gospel. and side not, these apartments are super nice! really wealthy fmaily.. anyway..we taught her the first lesson and she is interested and we are excited to meet with her again... its just interesting cause one brother doesnt agree with the church and the other is compltely open to it.. and i had heard about the whole arranged married thing but i had never seen it,.. but i saw it first hand! but this girl who is a member is such a good missionary..even though her family doesnt accept she does all she can to come to church and be a missionary to her family.. so we are hoping things go well for her and her cousin! then after that we went to the alands and prepared mexican food because we promised the mongolians we would cook them food! so sister aland and i made enchiladas.. and get this, we had no tortillas and there arent any in russia.. so gues what! i made my own! hahah they were just like the ones at costco (ok not really) but i was so proud! and they worked! so i am going to learn how to make them better so i can make them really good when i get home... and that meeting went really well.. they brought 3 mongolians who werent memebers of the church! one of them, ghana, had a baptisimal date and then decided not to be baptized, so we are really working with her.. other than that the two who are members, sonsar and mogy are amazing members.. its interesting being there cause we have 3 languages going when we teach we have enlgish and mongolian and russian because they know english just as well as russian.. so its interesting... then sunday was my 5 month mark! when i wrote may first in my journal i was shocked!!! i cant believe it! well then we went to galina.. the lady that i love who had 2 daughters serve missions, and we made mexican food there, she loved it cause she was a cook and likes to learn different things.. it was really fun! then we went home cause i havent been feeling well lately.. i think alergies are getting to me and my head has been pounding! then monday... yes we heard osama bin laden was killed.. it was interesting cause just for percausiion here, because there are lots of islams, the area 70 wrote us a letter telling us to take our nametags off and not to speak any english at all.. and we have to do that until they tell us.. it was kinda scary at first cause it seemed like a huge step right? but its ok i realized the church just really protects their missionaries.. its just weird being in a different country when things like that happens.. cause i am on their side of the world... so i hope everything goes ok.. we are safe though nothing to worry about... then we sewed my skirt! hah really simple pattern but yes, i made a skirt (with sister alands help) its really cute too.. haha that or my style has just gone way down.. im guessing its probably my style but i like it.. haha i laughed because i am going to come home knowing how to sew, play the piano and make tortillas.. haha maybe this isnt what a mission is about? haha no dont worry we are helping people too...then yesterday we had a meeting with a member family and they live like out in the country. it was like 5 hours to get there meet and get back, and i havent been feeling well so we went back and i went to bed, i just dont want to get even more sick but i am ok dont worry! anyway, that was my week! hopefully this week goes well too! i get to talk to you sunday! yay!!! and then i leave to finland on thursday! I am soooo excited! i miss the temple so much! and i am so excited to see sister trottier! haha and then we have transfer calls on friday! so we will see if i stay in tomsk or go somewhere else! i love it here so hopefully i stay... oh! and ps... if you can send me dried mangos from costco please do.. i dont know why but i have been craving those like no other! hahaha i know so weird right? hahah but please! birthday present please! and i am sending you a package from finland! with dolls and stuff..hopefully it isnt too much! and pictures.. i htink i am going to buy another picture card cause its so hard to get my pictures to a cd.. anyway... i love you guys and i appreciate your letters.. i miss you but i am excited to hear your voices.. i am going to cry right away so just beware! haha tell my friends i love them but i am sad they dont email me.. brats haha i hope ashtons wedding went well!!!! and kristin!!! send me a cd if you can! of you and your beautiful voice! i listen to church music and i want to hear you! miss you love you!
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